Opinion

Just a few days ago millions of Americans from across this great country joined together to participate in taxpayer tea parties. These gatherings were an opportunity for everyone to express their frustration and disdain for our broken tax code and the out-of-control government spending currently taking place in Washington.

Tax Day 2009 had a new feature this year: so-called tax day tea parties, where people showed up to replicate the old Boston Tea Party and express their opposition to, well, paying taxes, I guess.

Held in cities all across the country, including Roanoke, participants bemoaned the Obama stimulus package, the various government bailouts, and of course, the Internal Revenue Service, everyone’s least favorite government agency.

By midnight tonight everyone is to have paid “their fair share” to the United State Government. Don’t forget, as our vice president said, it’s our patriotic duty. If only we had some patriots in Washington ready to follow their own rhetoric. To hear them talk, you’d think April 15 should be a time for hot dogs, watermelon and fireworks — not the Fourth of July.

Should Liberty High School and the other Bedford County high schools move their proms this year form downtown Lynchburg? That is a question that many Bedford County parents are asking in the wake of increased shooting and violence in the downtown Lynchburg area.

Last week, I embarked on a whirlwind “New Energy for the 5th” Tour, surveying the incredible opportunities to transform Southern and Central Virginia into the region leading America into the new energy economy. In every corner of the district, we have entrepreneurs, workers, farmers, and planners with energy projects that can produce good jobs and strong economic development, while helping to wean our nation from foreign oil.

With spring underway, warmer weather is slowly returning, the days are growing longer, and everything is in bloom. Unfortunately, the arrival of spring also kicks off a second and largely unwelcome season. This season is marked by piles of forms, confusing instructions, and the prospect of turning your hard-earned money over to the government - tax season.

The Bedford Museum and Genealogical Library recognizes April as Confederate History Month by presenting stories of Confederate cemeteries that are being restored in honor of the brave people that served.

Alas, we must pity the poor individual. The American individual, that rock of our very fabric, is now under dire threat from a new and relentlessly socialist assault by the policies of President Barack Obama.

Gone, or at least soon to be gone, is the individual’s ability to make choices for himself, or direct his life in any serious way outside the bitter tyranny of a leftist government bent on destroying his freedoms.

Last week, Rick Howell reminded me of why I find the thinking of the “Democratic” Party’s base so troubling. He’s chosen an interesting cause to champion.

Is Mr. Howell concerned about Euna Lee and Laura Ling, two American journalists who were detained by North Korea last month? North Korea claims they illegally crossed North Korea’s border with China and accuses them of being spies. While I can’t say that Mr. Howell is not concerned about them, they weren’t the subject of his column.

The cost of doing business with the government became clear last month and everyone should take a long hard look at those consequences: Bailout-mania comes with a heavy price tag. Just ask Rick Wagoner.

Just days ago the House Democrats pushed through their budget resolution for fiscal year 2010, a $3.6 trillion budget resolution which spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much. This fiscally irresponsible budget, which I voted against, will significantly increase the tax burden on American families and small businesses to pay for new wasteful government spending while heaping trillions of dollars of debt on future generations. Facing a slowing economy and an increased cost of living, Americans have to tighten their belts and carefully budget their hard-earned m

Burial in a national cemetery is open to all members of the armed forces and veterans discharged under conditions other than dishonorable, as well as their spouse, un-remarried widow or widower, minor children and (under certain conditions) unmarried adult children.

Also eligible for burial are members of the reserve components of the armed forces, the Army and Air National Guard and the Reserve Officer Training Corps who died while on active duty for training or performing their services.

The Bedford Museum and Genealogical Library recognizes April as Confederate History Month by presenting stories of Confederate cemeteries that are being restored in honor of the brave people that served.

The Museum cooperating with the Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 1475 and the United Daughters of Confederacy, Gen. William R. Terry Chapter 580 are identifying any Confederate graves that need restoration, researching the persons buried, obtaining proper tombstones and restoring the graves to presentable condition.

In a jail cell in Lima, Peru, a 39-year-old American woman waits to give birth to her child. She’s eight months pregnant, but is not in particularly good health, and must have back surgery at some point after the birth.

For American Lori Berenson, most of those facts represent progress. The baby, of course, is good news. So is the modern, well-equipped facility in Lima, unlike the other remote and rustic prisons where she has lived since 1995.

It’s been a little more than a month since the International Criminal “Court” issued its “arrest warrant” for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. It charged him with crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes in Darfur.

I had dropped my son off for baseball practice and decided to get a little exercise myself. So I took advantage of the warm Tuesday afternoon to take a walk around the Lake. Along the way I stopped to talk to a couple of anglers who were dangling some bait in the water. One conversation was especially helpful.

Allegations of wrong-doing by the Hardy Volunteer Fire Company fire chief surfaced this past week just as the Bedford Volunteer Fire Department was kicking off its campaign to area residents asking for financial support. Those allegations shouldn’t discourage folks from giving to their local fire and rescue units. Members in those departments from around this area serve us every day and they deserve our financial support.